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One of the biggest challenges a network manager can face is ensuring that the enterprise network is in compliance with company policies.

Vancouver-based Telus Corp.’s network is one of the company’s greatest assets and the carrier has invested in ensuring that the network is functioning according to policy. The company has chosen technology from Intelliden Inc. to deploy automated policy-based compliance management software across its entire network.

Intelliden, based out of Colorado Springs, Colo., provides intelligent networking systems to companies looking to control and manage network compliance.

Telus will use Intelliden’s policy-based compliance management software to detect and fix non-compliant network conditions, making it the first company in the world to use the automated technology, according to Rahul Sachdev, vice-president of marketing at Intelliden.

One analyst said the trend towards automating compliance management within the enterprise will increasingly gain importance as companies get wiser to the risks involved in a non-compliant network.

“For telecom carriers, it is even more crucial to have as much control over their network as possible. Once they have those specific functions and tools, then they can focus on the human element, which is about training people to use the network in a certain way,” said Kevin Restivo, senior analyst with consulting firm SeaBoard Group.

Automation coupled with compliance management technology is important for organizations that have large, heterogeneous environments, given that automation alone does not ensure accuracy, notes Sachdev.

“Automation doesn’t equate to intelligence necessarily. What compliance does is that it allows our customers to put greater control and intelligence to what they are doing,” said Sachdev.

“One of the biggest things that we found [in most cases] is that people were looking at compliance through a very narrow lens — regulatory compliance, not a broader compliance. Customers want a mechanism for creating and enforcing policies,” he said.

Intelliden’s compliance program combines functions of policy definition, validation and violation reporting with automated end-to-end network compliance. Telus is taking on the program to ensure that its vast, complex network — from routers to switches to edge devices — has automated network management in place.